Zero-Gravity Coffee Mug - Oh NASA Where Would We Be Without You? - Polidicks

[QUOTE] Astronaut Invents Zero-G Coffee Cup By [URL=http://www.space.com/php/contactus/feedback.php?r=tm]Tariq Malik[/URL] Senior Editor posted: 24 November 2008 11:09 am ET [IMG]http://i.space.com/images/081124-pettit-cup-01.jpg[/IMG] [I]This story was updated at 11:27 a.m. EST.[/I] NASA astronaut Don Pettit loves his coffee. So it comes as no surprise that he found a way to drink coffee from a cup, instead of the traditional straw, on his day off Sunday aboard the International Space Station. Drinking any liquid in the weightless environment of space could be a messy affair. With hot coffee, it could be a potentially scalding affair. So astronauts [URL=http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=080312-sts123-linnehan-02.jpg%26%238745;=Astronaut+Rick+Linnehan,+STS-123+mission+specialist,+drinks+a+beverage+on+the+middeck+of+space+Shuttle+Endeavour+after+its+March+11,+2008+launch.+Crewmate+Garrett+Reisman+is+at+right+and+will+join+the+Expedition+16+crew+aboard+the+International+Space+Station.+Credit:+NASA]use silver pouches and plastic straws[/URL to sip anything from water to orange juice to Pettit's beloved space java. "We can suck our coffee from a bag, but to drink it from a cup is hard to do because you can't get the cup up to get the liquid out, and it's also easy to slosh," Pettit told Mission Control while sending a video of his new invention to Earth. Pettit arrived at the space station last week aboard the shuttle Endeavour, which is delivering a recycling system that [URL=http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=081119_RecycledUrine&mode=]converts urine into drinking water[/URL and other new gear to outfit the space station for large, six-person crew. He used a piece of plastic ripped from his Flight Data File mission book and folded it into a teardrop-shape that's closed at one end. Surface tension inside the cup keeps the coffee from floating out and running amuck. "The way this works is, the [URL=http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=081124-cup-shape-02.jpg&cap=This+top+view+of+astronaut+Don+Pettit%92s+zero-G+coffee+cup+depicts+its+novel+teardrop+shape.+Credit%3A+NASA+TV]cross section of this cup[/URL looks like an airplane wing," he said. "The narrow angle here will wick the coffee up." The result: space coffee in a [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/000746-2.html#coffee]zero-G cup[/URL. The theory behind the novel coffee cup is the same one used by rockets to draw fuel into their engines while flying through weightless conditions in space, Pettit said. "This may very well be what [URL=http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=ISS_acrobatics2&mode=]future space colonists[/URL end up using when they want to have a celebration and do a toast," Pettit said. Pettit is no stranger to space invention. During his first spaceflight as the space station's Expedition 6 science officer in 2002/2003, he was renown for his Saturday Morning Science efforts and tinkering with broken hardware. He told SPACE.com before launching aboard Endeavour that he hoped to hunt down his favorite tools, stowed away in a so-called Strange Tool Bag, when he returned to the space station. It was during his Expedition 6 mission that Pettit packed along enough instant coffee to tide him over during his long-duration mission in space. Drinking coffee through a bag pales in comparison to the comfort of a real cup, he said. "You can enjoy a cup of coffee in a weightless environment without having to sip it from a bag," Pettit said. "You can just keep sipping and sipping clear down to the last drop in the cup." [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/]Click here[/URL for a video of Don Pettit's space coffee cup from [URL=http://collectspace.com/]collectSPACE.com[/URL]. [I]NASA is providing live coverage of Endeavour's STS-126 mission on NASA TV. [URL=http://www.space.com/spaceshuttle/]Click here[/URL] for SPACE.com's mission coverage and NASA TV feed.[/I] [/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/081124-sts126-zerog-coffee-B.html[/url] That's it, I'm out of here.

You're a couple years late buddy.

What is the point?

Why didn't they just use a thermus with a one way flap inside of a straw?!?!!? NASA YOU SO FUCKING RETARDED SOME TIMES!!! :argh:

Facepunch: Bringing you yesterday's news, sometime next week.

[QUOTE=bravehat;22084488]Why didn't they just use a thermus with a one way flap inside of a straw?!?!!? NASA YOU SO FUCKING RETARDED SOME TIMES!!! :argh:[/QUOTE] Because the drink won't sit on the bottom like it would on earth. The less drink you have left in it, the harder it'll be to drink as it'll just end up floating around the container. Tipping it towards your mouth or whatever, wouldn't work at all. That's why you need to use surface tension :v:

Just as a note, it's not actually "Zero-gravity", just freefall.

[QUOTE=petieng;22084553]Because the drink won't sit on the bottom like it would on earth. The less drink you have left in it, the harder it'll be to drink as it'll just end up floating around the container. Tipping it towards your mouth or whatever, wouldn't work at all. That's why you need to use surface tension :v:[/QUOTE] Or you could use the pressure difference in the cup caused thanks to the flap. Or you know, just save all the money and just drink it from the bag they had originally.

[QUOTE=bravehat;22084644]Or you could use the pressure difference in the cup caused thanks to the flap. Or you know, just save all the money and just drink it from the bag they had originally.[/QUOTE] What money? It's a makeshift plastic bag with a crease in it. Also a pressure difference wouldn't help at all if the drink is floating around the flask. It would just make drinking impossibly difficult (think about trying to suck a drink out of a glass bottle without tipping it upwards.)

This makes me happy for him.

Somehow this reminds me of that whole "space-pen" shtick. Pens couldn't write in space. NASA develops program to invent new pen that can write in space. Program takes several years and costs several million dollars. Russian Cosmonauts used a pencil.

Too bad it's only a myth... [url]http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp[/url]

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;22090386]Somehow this reminds me of that whole "space-pen" shtick. Pens couldn't write in space. NASA develops program to invent new pen that can write in space. Program takes several years and costs several million dollars. Russian Cosmonauts used a pencil.[/QUOTE] Oh you Russia.

[QUOTE=RP.;22090583]Too bad it's only a myth... [URL]http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp[/URL][/QUOTE] To bad it was only a dumb example. :saddowns: